Night 3.5
So, finished up the Underworld series over the week.
9. Underworld: Awakening
Well, an attempt to get back to the eastern Europe setting was given, and failed. The movie was very much filmed in Canada. I think the loss of McBride in the script can be a bit debatable, but I think the real loss was Tatapolous in creature design and the shift to digital effects. The stuff they do for Eve does not justify a digital mask. The sickly Lycans are a decent approximations of Tatapolous's lycan design, the uberwolf and scientist's evolved form just lack that Tatapolous touch to the creature. nd the beginning of the franchises' Scott Speedman issues. But hey, we get too little Charles Dance. I still had fun, though.
10. Underworld Blood Wars
At least we are back in an eastern europe setting. Semira is at least more interesting than the lycans in the last movie. Marius is not however. And again, really, really lacking that Tatapolous touch in addition to too much CGI. More sasquatch than Lycan. And the nordic vampires also lack the kind of stuff we saw with the medieval vampire armor we saw in 2 and 3. But more Charles Dance, but again, not enough. I do not know why I enjoy this stupid franchise.
Night 4
Decided to go to one of my guilty favorite horror franchises.
11. The Prophecy
I'm going to be straight with you, christian mythology is a weakness of mine. Especially with Angels. (Hi Legion and Warrior Nun!!!!) Plus, you have Christopher Walken giving a Christopher ass Walken performance as the villain, Gabriel. And in a stand out first performance, you have Viggo Mortensen able to outshine Walken for a bit as Lucifer. Virginia Madson and Adam Goldbeg are also in it, and fine. I love how they are able to make the angels seem very alien, from their little perching trick, to how they sniff the air like dogs. I personally love this movie.
12. The Prophecy II
Or, the Prophecy writers watched too much Terminator. But, we get more Christopher Walken, so, whatever. And in even better news, he gets to play off Brittany Murphy, which is great. Their interplay almost makes it a more fun movie than the first. Jennifer Beals is fine as the lead and we even get Eric Roberts as Michael. The Walken content is definitely more fun in this.
13. The Prophecy III: The Ascent
This movie is a mess. I think they were attempting to pull a pivot from horror to action, ala Terminator. And failed. Failed so, so hard. And the cardinal sin is practically ditching Christopher Walken. They had Christopher Walken, and barely used him. The little of human Gabriel we get is great. They also wasted Brad Dourif. You have ****ing Chucky, and you don't use him as the evil angels' corpse chauffer, one of the great bits of the first two movies? And instead you use the still living bland girlfriend of the main character? I would say that no one on this movie watched the first two, but that would be a lie, because it is chock full of call backs to the first movie, and is a continuation of the second. Lets make the coroner who dealt with the angel corpses in the first two movies into the character who becomes the expert in biblical and angelic lore and languages. Lets bring back the little girl from the first movie. And the goddamn best scene of the movie is literally Gabriel revisiting the diner he made a stop in during the first movie. Admitidly, when you have Walken, you should expect a bit of an acting differential, but good god, everyone else in this movie is not good (except Dourif, but again, wasted). And they take a lot of the tension from the chase by attempting to make it into some stupid lame action movie. I don't know what kind of head injury I was suffering when I first watched this movie and enjoyed the action.
